LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1903, Gonzalez Fletcher.
Firearms: buyback programs: gift cards.

Existing law requires that a firearms sale, loan, or transfer be completed through a licensed firearms dealer if neither party to the transaction holds a dealer’s license. Existing law exempts several firearms transactions from that requirement, including the sale, delivery, or transfer of a firearm to an authorized representative of a government entity as part of an authorized, voluntary program in which the government entity is buying or receiving weapons from private individuals.

This bill would, for purposes of a voluntary firearms buyback program, as defined, prohibit a city, city and county, county, or the state, in exchange for a firearm, from dispensing a gift card whose issuer is a seller of goods or services that holds a firearms dealer’s license or an
ammunition vendor license.

Digest Key

Vote:
MAJORITY
Appropriation:
NO
Fiscal Committee:
YES
Local Program:
NO

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 27851 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

27851.

(a) For purposes of a voluntary firearms buyback program, a city, city and county, county, or the state shall not, in exchange for a firearm, dispense a gift card whose issuer is a seller of goods or services that holds a firearms dealer’s license issued pursuant to Sections 26700 to 26915, inclusive, or an ammunition vendor license pursuant to Section 30342.

(b) For purposes of this section, “voluntary firearms buyback program” means a program or event that is consistent with Section 27850 and
in which an authorized representative of a city, city and county, county, or the state buys or receives firearms from the public for purposes of reducing the number of firearms in the community.

(c) A city, city and county, county, and the state shall not renew or modify an existing contract in a manner that would violate subdivision (a).